The Harrowlands
Before the Sundering and the coming of the Tarrasque, the Occident was a powerful and wealthy province of the Imperium. Now known as the Harrowlands, this region is a lawless and dangerous land with a few well-defended city-states housing the wealthy and powerful. Undertower Once an economic powerhouse, Undertower is now the center of a spreading region of roving horrors unleashed from the Underdark. Undertower began as a lucrative mining operation. They dug deeper and deeper in pursuit of precious metals and gemstones. As areas of the great and expanding mines were fully excavated and exploited, the available space was converted into living areas for the miners and for the many industries that supported them. The mine became a city. Its inhabitants built downwards rather than upwards, using the readily available subterranean spaces left behind by the miners. Enchanted glowstones and everburning torches made the city feel bright and alive even in the deeps. This sprawling metropolis became a major seat of power when the Imperium came. Its new masters labeled it Undertower, as it was now the equivalent of a fifty-story tower -- entirely underground. When the Sightless Citadels were opened by the Nulls, abominations long kept locked away from the world spilled out into the Underdark. The Tarrasque created the Beastway, a vast tunnel connecting the region near Octax with Undertower. The Tarrasque burst into Undertower and clawed its way to the surface. It tore a gaping wound through the heart of the city. Aberrant horrors followed in its wake, spilling through the myriad levels and passages of the doomed city. Refugees from that terrible time tell of countless nightmares from the Far Realm that slew and devoured all they could reach. Some inhabitants of Undertower were even less fortunate than the dead. Few have visited Undertower since that time and survived. Those that have are never the same, and rarely can be convinced to speak of what they have seen -- let alone return there. The Geography of Undertower Undertower was constructed around a central shaft, with eight Great Lifts at each of the points of the compass. Radiating out from these are the main Spokes, passages originally carved as the railways for delivering minerals and gemstones from the mining tunnels back to the Lifts for transport to the smelting tiers or to the surface, and later widened into the avenues and arteries of the city. Each Spoke can be referred to by number or by compass point. So the Spoke radiating out from the central shaft heading Northeast can be called either NE or Spoke Two. Connecting the Spokes are Ribs, which are numbered in order from the central shaft outwards. They usually also have local names such as Giltwright Way (a goldsmithing district), Stonerib (a mason's district), or Durgin's Rest (named for the miner who died digging it). Connecting the tiers vertically are a variety of shafts, stairs, lifts, and room complexes, but these follow no centrally organized labeling system as they were either dug out haphazardly in opportunistic pursuit of minerals and gems or else added by settlers for convenience after the miners had moved on. Darkember, The Burning City Undertower's ores and rare metals were taken to a great tiered city built by Efreet as a service to House Marvad. Darkember, called by most "the Burning City," has been a center of industry and magic in the Occident for centuries. Its forges and furnaces burn night and day, producing a permanent black cloud above and a greasy fog in the streets. It is a gray, gritty, brutal place, built on blood and sweat and greed. Its inhabitants are either citizens or slaves. The only hope for a slave is to purchase his freedom -- even death is no relief, as slaves often continue to serve after death as golems or undead. Bloodwrought Coliseum Deep in the heart of the Burning City stands the infamous Bloodwrought Coliseum. Housing crowds of thousands of spectators, and with a history of gory and fantastic combat for sport, the Bloodwrought Coliseum remains popular with Imperial nobles even after the city seceded from the Imperium. Under Darkember law, the only legal means by which a slave can own money or goods is as a gladiator. Any master can sell a slave to the Coliseum, and thereafter receives nine tenths of that gladiator's income. The remaining tenth is devoted to the reduction of that gladiator's Blood Debt, the price paid by the Coliseum to purchase the fighter. Those who purchase their freedom and fight on may keep 100% of their winnings. These professional killers are called Bloodwrought Champions, and are few indeed.